The boundaries of many local school districts across the nation include parcels of land that are owned by the federal government or have been removed from the local tax rolls by the federal government, including Indian lands. These school districts face special challenges — they must provide a quality education to the children living on the Indian and other federal lands and meet all federal education requirements, while sometimes operating with less local revenue than is available to other school districts because the federal property is exempt from local property taxes.

Since 1950, Congress has provided financial assistance to these affected school districts through the Impact Aid Program. Impact Aid was designed to assist school districts that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt federal property or that have experienced increased expenditures due to the enrollment of federally connected children, including children living on Indian lands. The program supports local school districts with concentrations of children who reside on Indian lands, military bases, low-rent housing properties and other federal properties, or who have parents in the uniformed services or employed on eligible federal properties.

How Does Aurora Public Schools Qualify for Impact Aid?

To qualify for Impact Aid funding, the district conducts a yearly survey to determine the number of students attending an APS school whose parents/guardians are on active duty in the armed forces or actively employed by companies working on government contracts. Parent/guardian participation in this survey is critical to the district obtaining funding from the Impact Aid Program. See below for further information on the survey.

In order to be eligible for the Impact Aid Program, a school district must have:

At least 400 federal students in their Average Daily Attendance count; OR

At least 3% of all children in the district’s Average Daily Attendance must be federally connected.

Completing the survey is the only way APS can verify and demonstrate these requisite numbers.

Did APS qualify for the Impact Aid Grant in the 2013 – 2014, 2014- 2015 or 2015 - 2016 school years?

No, in the 2013 – 2014 school year Aurora Public Schools did not meet the necessary threshold to receive Impact Aid payments. APS sent out an Armed Services Survey only to already identified families, resulting in only 150 returned surveys. Based on survey results, the top impacted schools, in order, were: Vista Peak Exploratory, Vista Peak Preparatory, Murphy Creek K-8, Rangeview High School, Vassar Elementary, Side Creek Elementary, Aurora Quest K-8, Aurora Frontier K-8, Dalton Elementary, Mrachek Middle School, Global Village Charter School, Iowa Elementary and Gateway High School.

No, in the 2014 – 2015 school year Aurora Public Schools did not meet the necessary threshold to receive Impact Aid payments. APS did broaden the survey range to identify not only our active service military families but also federal government employees who have students enrolled in the district. Including federal employees at designated locations will increase APS’s numbers, with the goal of meeting the target threshold for receiving Impact Aid.

No, in the 2015 – 2016 & 2016-2017 school years Aurora Public Schools did not meet the necessary threshold to receive Impact Aid payments.

How Can You Help?

If a member of your family is on active duty in the armed forces or actively employed by companies working on government contracts, please complete the Federal Impact Aid Program Survey Form. This survey must be completed for each student enrolled in APS. This form is a requirement for APS to receive funding. All parents/guardians who either live or work on federal property should complete the survey form. While parents may not be in the military, they may work on federal property, such as at the Denver Federal Center, at a federally supported housing project, at a national park or national forest, at a VA hospital or on Indian Trust or Treaty lands.

One day and one survey can make a difference. Districts must select one official day for reporting and that day is the basis for generating funds. APS’s official survey date is October 05, 2016. A Federal Impact Aid Program Survey Form will be mailed to households that Centralized Admissions identified or households that were previously surveyed in Aurora Public Schools. Surveys will be sent to the home address of previously identified households to include a postage paid return envelope. Alternately, any survey can be returned to the Department of Federal Programs Attn: Impact Aid, 15701 E. 1st Avenue, Ste. 106, Aurora, CO 80011. Your survey can be the difference in making APS eligible for these funds.

How Do School Districts Use Impact Aid?

Most Impact Aid funds are considered general aid to school districts. Accordingly, districts may use the funds in whatever manner they choose in accordance with their local and state requirements. School districts use Impact Aid for a wide variety of expenses, including the salaries of teachers and teacher aides; purchasing textbooks, computers, and other equipment; after-school programs and remedial tutoring; advanced placement classes; and special enrichment programs.

Admin

The Aurora Public School District holds data privacy and security in high regard and takes action to ensure that our students’ data is handled securely in compliance with the Colorado Student Data Transparency and Security Act (HB 16-1423) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

The Aurora Public Schools is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment and does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, religion, ancestry, sex or need for special education services, and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.

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If you are unable to access any page(s) in our site, please email the Aurora Public Schools Information Technology Service Desk. Please include the location of the webpage/document and your name, email address and telephone number so that we may contact you to provide the information in another format.

Please note that some pages on the Aurora Public Schools website contain links to third-party sites. APS is not responsible for the content, facts, opinions or accessibility of third-party sites.

Formal grievances regarding Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and/or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act maybe filed pursuant to Policy AC and Regulation AC-R found here.